


A Prince's Kiss

by nalbwanalbwa



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: M/M, Model!Daniel, as in the manga not the movie, designer!Jihoon, gay version of Paradise Kiss, mention of Kim Donghan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 20:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14961530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nalbwanalbwa/pseuds/nalbwanalbwa
Summary: Kang Daniel grows up believing that someday he will put on a royal mantle, get onto his white horse, save damsels-in-distress and makes people around him proud, just like in the western fairy tales that his mother read to him back when he was young – and for her, and many other mothers in South Korea, that means going to the one of the SKY universities. Yet over the years, the wheels turn in somewhat a peculiar way that as he is finishing high school and is as close as possible to become the perfect son that his mother has wished for, Kang Daniel realizes that perhaps he has been wearing a worn-out damsel frock for a while and all he wants is a prince to kiss his problems away.





	A Prince's Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> hi! first of all, I LOVE PARADISE KISS and I believe everyone should read the manga (and ditch the movie, please) at least once. It has quite an interesting plot with a well-thought ending that does not conform to your standard shoujo manga happy ending (because it is not a shoujo manga on the first place) but it is still a happy ending of some sort. 
> 
> also, I was supposed to post this for Jihoon's birthday fic fest but I couldn't finish it on time sobs so here is the first part? heh

Donghan likes summer. He likes wearing plain t-shirt and three-quarters jeans out, he likes that he does not have to go to school for three weeks, and he likes chilling at the local library that has the best air-conditioner because it makes him feel productive despite that not always being the real case, because most of the time all he does is daydreaming about the beach trip that he is going to go with a bunch of his friends later when they could agree on a day they were all free. However meanwhile waiting for that day, he is just going to _try_ to be half a good student and son as he is and do as much studying as possible.

Considering that he is currently holding a book up while waiting to cross the road on his way to the library, it is probably already a job half done – plus he is sure he looks the part, with the non-prescription, thick-framed glasses that he is sporting.  

A shadow looms over the text that he is reading - or more accurately, the lines he repeatedly runs his eyes through over and over again without any actually registered into his brain – and when Donghan looks up, he is pleasantly attacked by a whiff of cologne that reminds him of fresh laundry and warm cotton. The stranger that is invading his personal space is almost as tall as him, and their eyes meet when the person is done peering his revision book.

The person gives him a smile – he is wearing a mask but his eyes are creasing into charming lines that cannot be anything else but a warm smile – followed by an apologetic small bow before stepping away from Donghan, just in time for the pedestrian traffic light at the crossroad to turn green. The man swings his long legs along with the other people who has somewhere to go in the peak of the sunlit afternoon, but Donghan stays rooted on the walkway despite the beeping sounds and the monotonous announcement from the machine.

The man has disappeared amidst the crowd, but his eye smile still lingers on Donghan’s mind, and it seems so familiar, like something Donghan has seen a lot somewhere.

The light has turned red again when Donghan stops raking his brain for a name and takes his gaze up to the huge billboard across the road. It is something that he has seen almost everyday since the summer holiday started, on his way to the library – a full-blown ads for a beer that he secretly knows the taste of.

“Shit, that was – no way – the _fucking Kang Daniel?_ ”

 

* * *

 

_Daniel hated summer. He hated the heat, he hated the cram school that his mother signed up for him that lasted for five hours everyday during the school holiday and he hated going to the public library at 3.30pm after he was done with the cram school because that meant all the good seats would be taken but he had no choice because the library was probably the coolest place in the whole city and he could not stand otherwise, being a winter kid he was._

_He also hated how the crossroad across the library block was always crowded at the peak of afternoon – their presences bother him even as he kept his eyes glued to the pages of notes that he had been trying to read for past 10 minutes while walking down from the convenience store near his cram school, where he got some kimbab and iced tea for a quick lunch. He thought stopping at the red pedestrian traffic light would help in getting the information into his head – it was very unlikely, but he always felt like the red light lasted longer on this crossroad compared to other places – but today, especially, the murmuring of the crowds sounded a little too loud for his liking and was a perfect excuse for his inability to focus._

_His throat felt a little too dry, too and now that he thought about it, he had been feeling a little light-headed since earlier this morning – but as the educational expert had told him just a few hours ago during the complementary college consultation at the cram school, someone with exam grades like his and college prospective like his mother’s, would have no time to get sick until the CSAT examination in the November._

_Just like summer that never failed to come every year, Daniel hated it but he knew he would have to go through it anyway._

_“You! High school boy in glasses! Wait!”_

_Daniel heard the deep voice on top of the automatic instructions from the traffic light as it turned green, and had spared three seconds of thought before deciding to ignore it and stride across the road along with the rushing crowd – perhaps it was not even him that the person was calling, despite the fact that he was wearing his summer school uniform as mandated by the blasted cram school, and his 3 rd frameless glasses of the year. _

_“I said, wait!”_

_The voice was getting closer now and Daniel could not help but to turn around, though that meant being jostled by people who clearly have more important things to do on the other side of the road. A black-haired boy, dressed in black t-shirt and black jean pants, and black – is that a choker? – was staring determinedly right at him while jogging lightly to catch up._

_He never knew why even after a long time but at that particular moment, Daniel’s instinct was to run._

_And that was what he did._

_Daniel had hoped that if he showed that much effort to escape from the awkward and totally unforeseen situation, the boy would perhaps drop the pursuit, but he heard the boy gasped in surprise as he charged ahead and reached the streetway of the opposing block. He ceased from running but kept hurried steps all the same, slightly gasping for air due to the sudden rapid movement that had inevitably caused his heartbeat to quicken twofold its usual pace. It reminded him of how long he had stopped doing anything physically draining, be it working out or light sports but even if he was barely fit now, it had never occurred to him to break into a sprint on a blazing day of midsummer._

_For some reason, the billboard on the tall office building three doors away from the library looks closer than usual today, that Daniel had to look down to avoid bumping into it._

_“Jaehwan-hyung! The boy in glasses! Catch him!”_

_And the ground was spinning, and there are two dark spots on it – a voice came out from the spots, a frantic “What, what, what? Why? Who? This one?” and Daniel’s mind conjured a word to replace the spots – boots – though boots were supposed to have volume because they are solid objects, oh and the ground was not supposed to spin this fast._

_The last thing Daniel saw was a handsome boy his age with fake freckles and he had just managed to count three on the left cheek before everything turned black._

 

 

* * *

 

 “That’s what I’m sayi – wait a minute – Kang Daniel, how many times should I remind you to stop flirting with my PA to let you barge into my office at your whim?”

Daniel laughs, and takes a seat on the set of sofas at the corner of the room where the Managing Director of La Dolce Vita usually entertains his guests. The black leather couches might come off as intimidating for some people, especially at first look, but they are one of the most comfortable sofas Daniel has ever sat on – and he likes to liken it to the owner of the office he is currently sitting in uninvited.

Bae Jinyoung attracts attention wherever he goes, what with the exceptional good look on his small face that is still a wide preference in their Korean diaspora, as well as the body proportion that makes him stand out at both lavish formal parties or local McDonalds, the latter being his personal preference anytime. There have been quite a few times when people in their line of work mentioning to Daniel about how unapproachable the MD of his company is – and each time Daniel just tells them to look past the glowers and the deep voice because behind those, Jinyoung is just someone that reminds Daniel a lot to soft kittens.

“Have you find the boy I told you about?” he asks, kicking off his shoes and putting his socked feet up on the edge of the coffee table. 

Jinyoung glares at the feet, and the way his lips set actually make Daniel grin apologetically before crossing his legs on the couch instead.   

“You can’t just tell me about a random boy you once saw on a street and expect me to find him the next day, Kang Daniel,” sighs Jinyoung as he rolls his eyes. He glances once at his desktop screen and makes an exasperated face before turning on his swivelling chair to face Daniel.

“Did you come over here to ask that, hyung? We have instant messaging nowadays, you know.”

It is Daniel’s turn to roll his eyes. He gets on his feet and walks towards Jinyoung’s table, his brand–new iPhone X on his hand. “Yeah, I actually came to ask you about this one instant message I receive from my manager about _doing an interview on my honeymoon_? It is good enough that I agree to attend an event while being on my _honeymoon_ because you said all I need to do is to take some photos on the entrance, sit and enjoy the play but _attending the after-party and doing a short interview_? Jinyoung-ah, we’ve known since way back but this is pushing it, don’t you think? And don’t give me excuses, Jisung-hyung said it’s by your direct order.”

Jinyoung opens his mouth to say something in retort but nothing comes up – Daniel can almost see the gears in his head turning.  After a while that passes with both of them staring off each other, Jinyoung sighs in resignation.

“Since the event is a play in Manhattan, you’d know that it is scheduled by our US branch, right? Here, why don’t you speak to the person-in-charge yourself?” he says, turning his monitor towards Daniel.

 

* * *

_So, angels did have pink hair._

_And angels apparently took form of teenage boys – at least this one, in the heaven that he ended up at, did. Daniel had no doubt that he ended up in heaven because for 18 years of his life, he had done nothing that deserved any less than that. It was good that this heaven had pretty boys as angels; or perhaps heavens were really tailored to one’s preference._

_“He’s up! Thank God!” he heard the angel say to someone in the vicinity, perhaps his fellow angels.  Daniel could not see them yet, his vision had only recovered so much that he could see pink, fluffy short hair on a boyish face, and that was all. He closed his eyes, and on count of three, tried to open them again._

_The pink-haired angel was still looking over him with a worried expression on his face, but now Daniel could see that the angel had no wings – and past his petite figure, Daniel noticed the elaborated decorated ceiling and decided that it was too low to be a heaven. This most probably meant that he was not yet dead, and he still had to go to the cram school tomorrow – his heart ached with just the thought of it._

_“Are you okay? Do you want some water?” the boy asked him as he tried to sit up. Perhaps he had nodded – he was not really sure of what his body is doing yet – because the boy immediately gestured to someone at the back and a few second later, a glass of water was brandished in front of his face, as if conjured from thin air._

_Daniel felt a lot better after a second glass of water. After wiping his face with a damp cloth given by the boy with the cotton candy hair, Daniel took in his surroundings, noting the somewhat dim but warm lightings, soft instrumentals playing on the background, a corner with scattered bean bags, opposite the other corner where a soft drink refrigerator was located, next to a table full of what looked like some snacks, and basic appliances such as a water heater and a microwave, just like those he had seen at the mini pantry at his cram school._

_It was a peculiar thought, and Daniel wanted to berate himself for even coming up for one as such, but he could not help but to compare the room, with air-conditioner as the only ventilation system to compensate the lack of visible windows, with the pristine white and immaculate cram school classrooms, or the huge but suffocating space of the library._

_He also hated it that he felt like he preferred this room more._

_However, it was clear that this room was not one for studying – at the only spot lit with bright, white light, there was a sewing machine set instead of a study desk that Daniel was more familiar with and right at the middle of the room, stood a full-size pool table, where a boy was currently sitting cross-legged on._

_It was the boy that had chased him earlier and put him into this predicament._

_“You!” he exclaimed, pointing at the boy that looked like a few years younger than himself. “What did you want from me? Where is this place?”_

_The boy grimaced but instead of answering Daniel’s questions, he turned to the other boy with pink hair as if asking for help._

_“I’m sorry!” the other boy stepped up and gave Daniel’s 90 degrees bow that was completely unnecessary, at least from him. “He didn’t mean bad, we just wanted to you participated in our fashion show! Oh, I should probably tell you what this place is first – it is called Zero Base! I named it – oh, I should introduce myself – god, it is so rude of me – my name is Lee Daehwi! I am a freshman at Seoul Art High School and that person, he’s –“_

_His words were cut off by the chime of the bell attached at the door when the door was pushed open, and the boy with fake freckles stepped in, his arms full of several paper bags of goods. “Kids, did he wake up fine? Can one of you get these bags off me, please? There are some more outside –“_

_The black-clad boy jumped off the pool table and took the load without a word before Daehwi could move a muscle, and the freckled guy took a good look at Daniel, who was obviously sitting on the two-seater couch just fine, before turning to someone over his shoulder. “Good, he looks fine enough, you don’t have to hire someone to bury a body, after all.”_

_All Daniel could see was some grey hair peeking from the boy’s shoulder and even when the freckle boy stepped aside to let the other person in, he heard the voice first before taking in the whole appearance of someone who was supposed to be capable of hiding a dead body._

_“Bae Jinyoung, I asked you to find me a model, not to chase random people down to the point they pass out – do you miss tracks that much?”_

 

* * *

Daniel stares at the person on the screen with squared shoulders and arms crossed. “You better have a good explanation, Lee Daehwi.”

Daehwi chuckles nervously, a few thousand miles and more than half a day away. “Hi, hyung. You look good.”

“Don’t _hi hyung_ me,” berates Daniel, doing his best to hold his serious face. He is genuinely annoyed by the issue they are supposed to discuss, but Daehwi also happens to be one of the people he has soft spots for. His fiancé always says that he has way too many of these people, and at times like these, Daniel has to agree with him.

“It is a good exposure for the brand label, hyung,” says the Chief Designer of La Dolce Vita, Los Angeles branch, who also happens to act the marketing manager concurrently. It is not a big office, and Daehwi is capable to do a lot of things while enjoying the job load so it is a win-win situation for everyone. “And good exposure for you, too. I know you can speak English pretty well yourself but the interview most likely will be in Korean, anyway – you know what kind of play it is right?”

“The first play in the States that are fully Korean-casted and produced,” Daniel nods paused with a sigh. “I know it is a big deal, Daehwi, and it’s an honour to attend, really – that’s why I agree to go despite it being my private time but to the extend of attending the after–party, even with a formal invitation, I don’t think it is my call. I don’t really know anyone in the industry that are States-based, except for you and you won’t even be there.”

There is something that is akin to guilt clouding Daehwi’s bright expression. Daniel can see that he hesitated for a while, basing from the way he is worrying his lower lip between his teeth, a habit that Daniel had known since a long time ago.

“That hyung will be there,” Daehwi tells him slowly and kindly, as if telling a child that his pet had ran away and was nowhere to be found. “There isn’t that many Korean pattern-makers, you see. Jaehwan-hyung is in the production, so you will know one person at the party, hyung.”

 

Jinyoung shuffles awkwardly on his seat, trying to look at anything but meeting Daniel’s eyes and muttering something under his breath that sounds like, “I’m not in this, it’s all Daehwi,” but Daniel is not paying attention to him – because Daehwi is obviously lying.

If Kim Jaehwan is indeed in the production team as the pattern-maker, then Daniel will not know only _one_ person at the party. Other pattern-makers might work on their own, selling their handiwork to any interested designers, but Kim Jaehwan – at least the one that Daniel has personally known from years back – only makes patterns for a certain designer; and by the look on Daehwi’s face, Daniel does not have any doubt about his well-put supposition.

 

Daehwi has always been a bright kid; but how does he come to think that telling Daniel _that_ will make him want to come to the after-party?

 

* * *

 

_It was hard to say that the library was likeable for Daniel (except for, again, the excellent air-conditioning that maintained the temperature of 16_ _⁰_ _C even when it was 34_ _⁰_ _C outside) but among all the seats available, he had always felt more at ease at the individual desks section at far corner of the second floor of the building. The section was by the big window that overlook the lake near the library and obviously was not first choice for just Daniel. He could count the number of times he managed to book a seat at the section in this summer with a single hand, all thanks to the fact that he only managed to reach the library at the mid-afternoon._

_He was pretty lucky today, though – in fact, the day had been simply splendid relative to the day before, because not only he got to sit at the window seat, it was a seat booked for specifically for him by his classmate, who was now occupying the desk next to him._

_Daniel also happened to have a crush on the said classmate; a very important detail to note._

_On his defence, anyone who sexually preferred male companions would have a hard time not to take a liking on Hwang Minhyun. This was just Daniel’s personal opinion, and perhaps a biased one, but he was quite sure it was a pretty convincing fact. Taller than average male at 18 years old? Checked. Fair complexion? Checked. Good, supportive, and functioning family? Checked. Exam grades that could send him straight to Yonsei’s medical school? Checked. Regular gym member? Checked. Piano skill? Checked. Well-mannered and level-headed? Checked._

_Not strictly straight? Freaking checked._

_“Niel-ah.”_

_“Hm?”_

_“You did not come here yesterday; why?”_

_A very good and attentive friend? Checked._

_Probably like Daniel as well? Maybe._

_Daniel would want to say it was a big fat maybe at this point, but he could never be sure – Minhyun treated him very well that sometimes Daniel could not help but to get carried away but then he treated everyone just as kindly and that often served as a reality check. They were definitely close, that perhaps he could get away by calling themselves best friends, but Daniel did not want to be best friends with Minhyun, definitely not in a long run._

_“Something happened.”_

_“Do you mind sharing? These algebra drills are snoozing me off.”_

_He did not mind sharing – but where exactly should he start? A 16-year-old in ripped pants and choker chasing him across the street and consequently passing out in the arm of another boy? Waking up in a strange room that smelled like sweet incense? Befriending a freshman from a school that apparently allowed hair bleaching?_

_Meeting Park Jihoon?_

_“I got scouted as a model by a bunch of art high school students for their school show.”_

_“Wow. Which art school?”_

_“Seoul Art.”_

_“That’s a famous one, isn’t it? So, did you accept?”_

_“Are you crazy? What about my CSAT? I don’t have that much free time to join something as frivolous as that.”_

_“I hope you didn’t tell them that; I heard those art kids take their fashion shows seriously. Seoul Art, especially – they pick those with high potentials at the shows and send them overseas.”_

_Daniel knew that. Daehwi had explained to him yesterday. The fashion show was held annually, and while all students were encouraged to send in preliminary designs, only selected ones could participate in the show, and usually those were the graduating seniors. The participants were allowed to form a team to help in the preparation of the competition because it was required for the participant to handle every aspect of the presentation, from the costumes, to the accessories, and also the model that was going to walk down the runaway._

_“And you are just perfect for Jihoon-hyung’s design!” Daehwi had told him._

_According to Daehwi, Park Jihoon was the only second year student competing in the show; apparently, a fashion design prodigy. Daniel did not say it out loud, but Jihoon did not look like he knew fashion at all – not with his pastel pink shorts paired with a t-shirt in similar pink shade, matching the pink cap on top of his grey-dyed hair – but then again, Daniel had never really pay close attention to the ever-changing fad, opting to follow whatever people around him were wearing for the simplicity of it so perhaps Jihoon’s choice of outfit, as well as the rest of the boys’ eye-catching appearances were something way ahead the common folk’s style; after all, they were the art school students._

_“You wear size 110, don’t you?” That was the first thing that Park Jihoon had said to him. The boy was a head shorter than Daniel, and his face was even more boyish than Daehwi’s with only soft edges and round cheeks, but there was something daunting about the way his gazes roam on Daniel’s body – it was almost like nothing could escape from his scrutinization and for once, Daniel was conscious of the white shirt of his summer uniform._

_“Jinyoungie has good eyes, as usual,” he said when he was done circling around Daniel and while Daniel had never been one that enjoyed eye-contact, he was glad that Jihoon was finally looking at him in the eyes instead of anywhere else of him. “Are you going to model for us?”_

_He knew it was a bad move the second the words left his mouth. In fact, he had vowed not to think about it again after he stomped out of the room – the Zero Base, as they called it, but it actually took him hours to get rid of the image of the boys’ expressions when he replied to Jihoon’s question that night when he was trying to sleep because even when he closed his eyes, he could hear Daehwi’s surprised gasp, Jinyoung’s warning growl and Jaehwan’s patronising sigh._

_The loudest of all was Jihoon’s silence through his tight-shut lips, and the look in his eyes that Daniel saw when he turned around for the last time as the door swung close behind him._

_“Of course, I did not tell them that.”_

_He only told them that it was a waste of time and they should find something better to do themselves; but Minhyun did not need to know that._

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I will try to put up the next part soon; hope you like it so far (despite lack of Jihoon lol) thanks a lot for reading ~


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